Madrid, Clara Maria González de Amezua, May 30, 2021. Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior in Spain. The Pre-Post COVID Road Warrior adventure.

 

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Madrid May 30, 2021 

Clara Maria González de Amezua.

 

Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior in Spain. The Pre-Post COVID Road Warrior adventure. 

 

I soon as I got to Spain, I realized that it was not the castles, the cathedrals, the art museums and even the restaurants that I missed so much, it was the people, my dearest friends. After a shower and a short nap, I went to meet Gabriela Llamas, who offered to take me to see her mother, 91-year old Clara Maria González de Amezua, the grand dame of Spanish gastronomy. 

 

Click on title to see entire post.

 

 

 

 

 

Gabriela Llamas, daughter of Clara Maria.

 

Gabriela told me to be prepared for just 15 minutes with Clara Maria, who had COVID, but was still going through a rough recovery. I arrived to find that she was using breathing tubes for oxygen, but was in good spirits. She told her kitchen people to fix me some of the lunch she had just had, salad, a vegetable terrine and fidueá. There was, as always, plenty of wine.  The beer was tto irrigate the field of battle.

 

Clara Maria told her kitchen people to fix me some of the lunch she had just had, salad, a vegetable terrine and fidueá.

 

We sat at a table on the terrace of Clara Maria´s lovely home in the gated Puerta de Hierro neighborhood of northwest Madrid. Clara Maria was happy to see me and I was just as happy to see her. I go not only 15 minutes, but another hour with her, for which I will always be grateful.

 

Gerry Dawes and Clara Maria González de Amezua.

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  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

 

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

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In 2019, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2019 by Feedspot. (Last Updated Oct 23, 2019) 

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."  

36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

 
About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

Gerry Dawes was the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)

Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com